Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems DSP life expectancy

Is this problem isolated to the DSP5000 speaker or is the 5200-series also affected?

Regards D

It’s not a problem above a certain serial number on DSP5000 and was directly addressed. That is the change I put in.

The fix from Meridian was introduced somewhere between S/N 305528 and 305805

So I very much doubt this problem exists on anything newer.

I can’t speak for similar generation 5500’s and 6000’s though.

I just re-read this thread and there is a quite a few statements that are wrong.

1) Not all DSP5000 will fail. Above S/N 305805, no worries. No evidence of 18bit having the issue either.

2) In all cases (15) the Resistor DID NOT FAIL. They are not cooking because the resistor is failing. They are cooking because there is too much wattage going through that resistor. That heat will shorten the life of the resistor, but more likely damage the nearby Capacitor(s) or the board.

3) I highly recommend NOT replacing Like for Like. You'll have the same heat problem if you do, even with higher wattage resistor, the heat will still be a problem.

Meridian's fix lowers the wattage through the resistor and uses a HUGE 4W resistor to dissipate that heat better over a much larger space. Not so much to prevent that resistor from failing itself but to make that resistor run cooler.

Also DSP5000 is no more prone to D1 or D2 failure than any other DSP speaker of that vintage.

if you don't let your newer gen DSPs overheat (cool room temps), then they will NOT fail for decades.

Here are some pictures of my M60 repair (very similar analog amp to the DSP5000). It appeared things were on their last legs on both speakers.

Crispy! Speaker 1: The resistor between the positive regulator and positive power rail was in very good shape. The pads under the crispy resistors were barely connected and the PCB was black carbon. That area had to be completely cleaned and fixed with epoxy.


Hot! Speaker 2: Looks like the current was high or things got hot for an extended amount of time. This was also repaired with epoxy.


The lead time for 330R's was way too long so I made them- also added some heat sinks and my version of radiation shielding.


Top view, before I added the second resistor and regulator heat sinks in the above picture

Just working on a smiley pair S/N 305994 and 305995 and R9 was toast in both. R1 was already ceramic, so R9 also now replaced with ceramic

I've got a defective DSP5000 (24/96) and a working DSP5000C (24/96).

From what I've learned from this thread - the audio sections are interchangeable - is this also true of the digital section? IOW-can I just transplant the gutz and drive away happy? Assuming I don't find the classic blown fuse or bass-bass/mid drivers blown - just transplant electronics?

What is wrong with the DSP5000?

Yes you can transplant from a centre but you would need to load the appropriate firmware after the operation.

Obviously only do this if you are both confident and competent as you could end up with two bricks!

Man, this thread makes me kinda nervous for my DSP5000C "smiley" center. I run it pretty heavily with Trifield and its serialnumber seems to match up with the problematic units.
Last time I tried opening it i just couldnt get the back panel off at all even with all the screws out. seemed like it got stuck from sitting all these years. I should probably give it another go to make sure everything is okay in there.

They will stick a bit. Give it a gentle pry and it should open up.

I have had several sets of 5ks both 18 bit and 96/24 factory conversions and smiley face . My experience has been very positive with all all of these.

On my very oldest 18bit 5ks,(series 1) I once had a cone replaced about 5/6 years ago . These speakers are now over 20 years old and sound seriously good. Not worth big money second -hand, but still offer startling performance

Best regards Huw

Tarik-the issue with the 5000 24/96 is it won't take programing from the remote -some sound comes out of the tweeter ? In terms of loading firmware - do you mean the initial defining whether Master or slave -tellin the speaker if it's left or right ? I have not started to troubleshoot this speaker yet-if the issue is with the IR receiver -guess I'll have to re-think this a bit ?